It felt a little parky when I took our dog for a walk last night and on returning home I noted that someone had asked me about how we get on cycling in the winter. How cold is it ? What condition are the cycle-paths in ? I decided I'd take some photos today and write a little about this (again).

Elsewhere in the city, a single direction cycle-path also
cleared of snow and ice

On return from the dog walk I noted that the outside temperature was a little below -11 C. For most of the week beforehand the temperature had been hovering around -5 C at mid-day and as I write this it's about -6 C. It'll get colder overnight.

A minor cycle-path, not necessary to use, and un-treated

We've not had masses of snow compared with previous years. About 17 cm of snow (7 inches) fell on Monday. It kept falling all day and though I swept our driveway twice, it didn't much look like I'd bothered by Tuesday.

During Monday things were a bit difficult because even the most effective of treatments for roads can't deal with snow which continues to fall. However, as soon as it stops the local government does a very good job of sweeping the paths and treating with what appears to be a mixture of salt and sand.

Main cycle-paths are treated immediately, as are main roads. Residential streets are treated last. Where cars have been they compress the snow and this is more difficult to remove so conditions on some of these streets can remain unpleasant.

This is the same type of vehicle as is used for sweeping
cycle-paths. If the paths are of proper width then you
don't need narrow vehicles.

The photo on the left of a snow-plough going along our street shows how it can be. This was his second pass within 10 minutes. The gritters are switched on and off by computers using GPS. Therefore, they don't waste excessive salt where it's not needed but achieve an even spread around the city, wherever the driver happens to go. Without this, in the past, the area around the depot tended to be treated better than outlying areas.

4 comments:

I saw your ice-bat video a while ago, and it really looks like fun. It's a lot faster and safer without the propellor, isn't it? Still, not a chance to overtake a professional skater. I don't expect it to catch on very much in NL, but for people who never got to learn how to skate, it can be a very nice way of making trips on the ice otherwise reserved to fast skaters...

What do you mean "even the most effective of treatments for roads can't deal with snow which continues to fall"?

Many places in Canada manage to do just that: the roads are pre-gritted and salted ahead of a snow event and snow plows are sent out during the snowfall. Some places in the Canadian Rockies get so much snow that if you waited until it stopped falling before starting to clear the snow it would be a metre or more deep.

Here's a 10 min long video of a snowplowing operation during a fairly heavy snowfall in Toronto at night. Note the combination of blue and amber lights on the plows - the blue is far more visible in the nighttime snow conditions.

On a different note, it's a little curious that the snow plow pickup truck has a trailer carrying the gritter rather than just putting it on the back of the pickup truck. That significantly reduces the flexibility of manoeuvre (e.g. reversing), especially in country with generally narrow streets like the Netherlands. A secondary advantage is that if the truck is 4WD, the weight of the gritter helps with traction.

@David James: we do just that here in NL. They start before the snow falls. I guess David H meant you can never take all of it away from all roads if it continues falling.Mark Wagenbuur has posted an interesting summary of snow clearing on Dutch cycle paths. In the second video you can see all kinds of snow gear uses, from heavy trucks and tractors to brushing machines: http://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/dashing-through-the-snow/

Study Tours

You've read the blog, now see everything with your own eyes. Since 2006, hundreds of people have joined us on our Cycling Study Tours.
First hand experience is better than reading. Book a tour to see how policy and infrastructure have attracted people from all walks of life to cycle:

Support this blog

Thousands of hours of work have gone into compiling the information on this blog but we do not receive grants and we do not ask for charity to support us.

You can help to make further blog posts possible by buying proven bicycle components from us:

Copyright and Licensing

This blog is free of charge to read and for most individual usage including reasonable "quoting" of its contents. However, neither the text nor the photos on this blog are in the public domain. To find out more, please read our copyright and licensing information.

Search This Blog

Non-sponsored links

Experience for yourself how policy and infrastructure in Assen and Groningen have led to the high cycling modal share in this area:

If you like this blog please support us so we can continue. We sell quality bicycle components:

Cycling holidays in Assen and Drenthe, where this blog is based:
All the youtube videos from this blog: